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Michael Hunter will face Jerry Forrest in a new main event on Triller

Michael Hunter (right) vs. Iago Kiladze. Photo courtesy of Premier Boxing Champions
Fighters Network
02
Dec

Tonight’s Triller card will have a new main event.

Heavyweight contender Michael Hunter, who is ranked No. 8 by The Ring, will face Jerry Forrest at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The 10-round bout will headline a ‘Night of Heavyweights’ card that will stream live on TrillerFightClub.com and on FITE.TV (Thursday, Dec. 2, 6:30 p.m. ET/ 3:30 p.m. PT).

The ten-rounder will replace the original main event, in which Andrey Fedesov was scheduled to take on Junior Wright before Fedesov suffered an injury during training.

At Wednesday’s weigh-in, Hunter weighed in at 222 pounds. Forrest weighed 231 pounds.



Hunter (20-1-1, 14 knockouts), who lives and trains in Las Vegas, was able to secure a fight before the conclusion of 2021. In his last bout on August 3, which also took place in New York City, Hunter stopped Mike Wilson in round 4.

Almost a year ago, the 33-year-old returned from a year’s absence from the ring by knocking out Shawn Laughery. Hunter is unbeaten in his last nine bouts, which also includes a draw against Alexander Povetkin in December 2019, since losing to former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in April 2017.

Forrest (26-4-1, 20 KOs), who resides in Newport News, Virginia, has not fought since fighting to a majority-decision draw against unbeaten Zhilei Zhang on February 27. Forrest fought back bravely in the later rounds after being dropped three times during the fight.

The 33-year-old has lost two of his last four bouts. His most recent defeat took place on July 9 of last year, losing to Carlos Takam by unanimous decision. The loss to Takam took place about a year after Forrest lost a controversial split-decision to unbeaten Jermaine Franklin.

In the co-feature, which is a compelling clash between unbeaten heavyweights, Cassius Chaney will square off against George Arias.

Chaney (21-0, 14 KOs), who resides in New London, Connecticut, defeated Shawndell Terell Winters by unanimous decision in his last bout on August 14. A former collegiate basketball player at nearby University of New Haven, Chaney is managed by Zachary Levin.

Arias (16-0, 7 KOs) has not fought since February 17, defeating Joel Caudel over six one-sided rounds. Originally from the Dominican Republic and now residing in The Bronx, New York, the 29-year-old is promoted by Dmitiry Salita.

Also fighting in a 10-round bout, hard-hitting Trey Lippe (18-0, 17 KOs), who is the son of former WBO heavyweight titleholder Tommy Morrison, will face former NFL player Mike Balogun (17-0, 13 KOs).

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing

 

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